Cameron vows not to cut army down to 60,000

David Cameron has assured MPs that the UK army would not be cut below its current level of 82,000, following reports of Ministry of Defence budget cuts.

Cameron was asked by
Aldershot MP Sir Gerald Howarth, to reassure him that the reports
of a reduction in the size of the regular army from its already
low level of 82,000 to 60,000 were unfounded, and that no such
cuts will be made.

The Prime Minister gave his “absolute” assurance that he
would not cut the size of the regular army, adding that these
ideas were “absolutely not on the table.”

“As long as I am Prime Minister, the army will stay at its
current size,” he said.

Under current plans, the army will shrink to 82,000 personnel by
2020, with the number of reserves due to rise to 30,000 if they
can be recruited.

The idea that David Cameron could try to downsize the army
further was raised by the former defense minister Sir Nick
Harvey, who said paper exercises in the Ministry of Defence were
being undertaken to look at further cuts to troop numbers. Sir
Nick told MPs: “There are already paper exercises going on in
looking at what an army of just 60,000 would look like because of
the financial crunch that the department is going to be
facing.”

However, Cameron has declined to promise that UK defense spending
would be maintained at 2 percent of the GDP – the level required
by members of NATO.

MP Nigel Dodds asked during Wednesday’s Commons debate whether
David Cameron could guarantee the UK would continue to spend at
least 2 percent of GDP on defense “in order to keep this
country strong at home and abroad.”

The Prime Minister did not directly answer the question, but
instead said, “We are one of the few NATO countries that does
achieve 2 percent of spending on defense, and because of that
you’re going to see in the coming months and in the coming years
a defense equipment program which I think is second to none in
Europe.”

He added, “Two aircraft carriers, new joint strike fighters,
hunter killer submarines, the new frigates. You can see a really
strong defense industry supported by the commitment we’ve made
that the defense equipment program specifically should be
protected.”